Paediatric TB care in the United Kingdom
OBJECTIVE: To describe practice among UK professionals caring for children exposed to or infected with TB, and their investigation and treatment.
METHODS: From 81 NHS (National Health Service) clinical services, 114 individuals responded to a web-based questionnaire.
RESULTS: We describe variation in several areas of practice, with important differences between smaller and larger centres. Most respondents go beyond National Institute for Health & Care Excellence guidance and screen child contacts of extrapulmonary TB. Most respondents would presume pulmonary TB exposed children aged under 2 years to be infected. They would not rely on immunological investigations to rule out infection. There was wide variety in approaches to microbiological diagnosis, and in the use of laboratory investigations to monitor treatment. Many respondents felt unclear on how to manage newborns exposed to TB, or children exposed to multidrug-resistant TB.
CONCLUSION: These findings support the case for further developing regional networks providing evidence and consensus-based care for children with TB.
Keywords: TB diagnosis; United Kingdom; paediatric TB
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK 2: Department of Paediatric Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Evelina London Children´s Hospital, London, UK 3: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK 4: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK, Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Imperial College London, London, UK 5: Department of Paediatric Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Evelina London Children´s Hospital, London, UK, University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK
Publication date: September 1, 2022
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